David Cameron will today stake his premiership on the Big Society, insisting
that he will not back down on his “mission” to give people more control over
their own lives.

Fixing his political fortunes to the success or failure of his concept, the Prime Minister will insist: “The Big Society is my mission in politics. It is here to stay.”

He will also announce a “social investment strategy” to encourage people to put their own money into social projects. “Big Society ISAs” could allow people to fund community projects for a tax-free return.

The Big Society, Mr Cameron’s appeal for people to take more responsibility for their communities and for running public services, has come under intense criticism from charities, MPs and some ministers. Conservative critics say the Big Society is too vague to appeal to voters. Labour says it is simply a cover for deep cuts in public services.

Some charity leaders have said that Coalition cuts in spending will undermine Britain’s volunteering spirit, thwarting any attempt to persuade people to run services and support communities.

Mr Cameron and Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, will today set out new measures which they hope will bring private investment into projects run by social entrepreneurs and charities.

A “Social Stock Exchange” will allow people to buy stakes in projects that bid for contracts providing public services, receiving a return as the project gets public money on a “payment by results” basis. Such stakes could then be held in new individual savings accounts.

The Big Society Bank will co-fund charitable projects, offering start-up capital alongside private investors. There are also long-term plans for a Big Society university, which would train community volunteers and social entrepreneurs.

In a speech in London today, the Prime Minister will insist that he will not retreat from an idea that is central to his vision of Britain under the Coalition.

“Let me make one thing absolutely clear: I’m not going to back down from what I believe in just because of a few bad headlines. The Big Society is my mission in politics,” he will say.

“It’s what I want us — as a country — to build. Together. And I’m going to fight for it every day, because the Big Society is here to stay.”

The Coalition’s work is about more than restoring the public finances, Mr Cameron will insist. “I don’t want the story of this Government to be just an economic recovery. I want it to be a social recovery too,” he will say. “The Big Society is how we’ll fix our broken society, how we’ll strengthen families, how we’ll bring communities together.”

Mr Maude yesterday insisted that the Big Society has caught the public imagination. “Everyone is talking about it,” he said. But David Mellor, the former Conservative Cabinet minister, said Mr Cameron’s devotion to the Big Society could ruin his premiership, blaming Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister’s friend and strategy director.

“I don’t know why he keeps on at it. Perhaps it’s the influence of his Rasputin mini-me, Steve Hilton,” he said.

Mr Maude denied that the Government had struggled to explain the Big Society, but a search has begun to find a chief “evangelist” for the concept.

The search comes after the last Big Society guru backed away from overseeing the campaign. The new candidate will become the managing director of the Big Society Network, a charity that plays a central role in Mr Cameron’s agenda.

The network has hired Egon Zehnder, a headhunting firm, to find a senior executive. Its staff include Dom Loehnis, a former Telegraph journalist who has been a friend of the Prime Minister since they were at Eton College.